Scholarship is created in memory of Sayreville woman who loved horses

Sayreville resident Sara Dubinin loved horses. She was killed in a car accident in 2007 and her family is starting a scholarship for young people who love horses.SAYREVILLE -- A $1,000 annual scholarship to help young people pursue their love of horses has been created in memory of Sara Dubinin, a 19-year-old Sayreville woman who died in a car accident two years ago.

Sara started taking riding lessons at age 11 at the Sly Fox Run Farm in Monroe, said her mother, Betty Dubinin. Sara showed horses, but also loved grooming the animals and cleaning out their stalls. She worked as a trail ride guide the summer before the accident.

Sara Dubinin“She was very comfortable with them. She wasn’t afraid to get down and dirty,” Dubinin said of her daughter. “She would go into the mud in her knees just to get the horses out of a storm. It was a bond she had with them.”

The scholarship will help someone who wants to pursue an activity relating to horses, like riding lessons, buying equipment, or entering competitions, said Lynne Richmond, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Agriculture, which is administering the prize.
Those interested must submit an essay on how horses have affected their lives and how they relate to the applicant’s future.

Sara, an only child, was a passenger in a pickup truck when the vehicle ran off the road and struck a tree on Karcher Street just before noon on Sept. 24, 2007. She was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where she succumbed to her injuries the following day. The two other passengers, also Sayreville residents, were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injures.

Sara was attending Middlesex County College at the time of the accident and had worked day shifts as a hostess at the Colonial Diner in East Brunswick. At one point she wanted to be a veterinarian, but then decided she wanted to be an elementary school teacher, like her mother.

Sara’s love for animals extended far beyond horses. Dubinin recalled that when Sara was about 8 years old she brought a baby squirrel home in a shoe box and fed the animal with an eyedropper. At age 10, she demanded that her mother get out of the car to make sure they didn’t hit a groundhog they saw crossing the road. The Dubinin household had many pets, including hermit crabs, a hamster, guinea pigs, a dog, turtles and birds.

Dubinin said she and her husband, Vic, got the idea for the scholarship after speaking to one of Sara’s riding instructors, who suggested they contact the Department of Agriculture. The money for the scholarship, which will help someone who could not otherwise afford a horse-related activity, will come from insurance Dubinin received after Sara’s accident.

“This scholarship assures me that Sara will not be forgotten, and that she is sharing her love of animals, especially horses, with those that might not have that opportunity,” said her mother.

Richmond said the deadline to submit the essay is Jan. 1. Essays can be submitted to Debra Moscatiello at debra.moscatiello@ag.state.nj.us. The winner will be announced Jan. 31 at the New Jersey Bred Equine Breeder Awards Dinner.